Dr William Gill was appointed District Surgeon of the newly founded town and district of Somerset in July 1829. Upon his death in 1863, he left the main portion of his estate to found and maintain an institution for higher education in the Eastern Cape. Interestingly, his will stipulated that no portion of the estate was to be spent on the purchase or erection of buildings. The Somerset farmers and townsfolk pledged that they would erect the necessary buildings.

Gill College was founded in 1869 as a university and the beautiful architecture was based on that of the University of Glasgow. In 1903, a change in educational regulations caused Gill College to become a high school. Between 1928 and 1965, Gill College was a school just for boys. Today, Gill College is a proudly South African dual medium high school with boys and girls from all cultures and backgrounds. The original building now serves as the school’s library.

In 1916, Gill’s remains were reburied in front of the school which he endowed.

In keeping with Gill’s background, the school’s coat of arms has three footless martlets, which are on the Gill family’s crest, a fish and a ring, which are from the arms of both the university and the city of Glasgow and below that there is the sheet anchor of the Cape Colony.

The moto “sursum prorsusque” means “upward and onward”